Wednesday, January 27, 2010

It's a new theme I'm introducing to this blog which I'm really excited about! I'm aware that many Pakistanis out there have little grasp of the Urdu language even though it's the national language for Pakistan. Many speak Punjabi, Mirpuri, Sindhi...etc and many are living abroad with little interaction with Urdu speakers. (Non-Pakistanis can learn too!) So, I'm going to be adding a new Urdu word to the blog every week (hopefully) with the English meaning for readers to increase their vocabulary. You never know, you might be off spouting Urdu to your Mum, now won't she be pleased!

(Yes, I know it's a weird word to be starting with but it was all done in total randomness!) Please feel free to provide any feedback for this theme. You can even introduce your own Urdu words or even make up sentences with the above word and blog about them on your own blog. Remember to post your links.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

I'm posting more announcements of our shaheed (martyred) who are fighting for our country, our people and our freedom. See my previous posts here, here, here, here and here.

Friday January 8th 2010

'One soldier lost his life while two suspected terrorists were apprehended during the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan in the last twenty four hours.' (Dawn)Note: I can only provide you with names if I find them in the news articles I browse. If you think something needs correcting, please do leave me a message. I try my best. We should all pray for these men and their families and recognise their courage and sacrifice for their country.

Are you related to a soldier? Do you have memories of a loved one dying? Do you have a message for the soldiers fighting? Leave me a comment.

Within the South Asian community cousin marriages are a norm and as such figures show that 55% of British Pakistanis are married to their first cousins. It's a tradition that is being upheld even in the UK as most parents decide their children will find better partners in their own country. The bond between two families becomes even greater once a marriage takes place that binds them both.

However, there has been much debate about the repurcussions of marrying cousins. Genetics play a role in determining a person's chances of suffering from certain conditions so if two people who carry a recessive gene reproduce, their children have one in four chance of having the disorder and one in two chance of being a carrier themselves. In the Pakistani community, cases like these are rare but still higher than expected. The Born in Bradford study is hoping to provide statistical data by keeping track of 10,000 children born in Bradford to identify rare genetic conditions and further investigate consanguineous marriages. Experts advocate better genetic screening for those involved.

Here are some questions to ponder on..

How many people do you know who are married to their cousins? Let's start with the family. Are your parents cousins? Are your grandparents cousins? Were your great grandparents cousins?Is the norm changing? Are we marrying from outside the family? Will we get our children married to someone from outside the family?What are your views?

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I was considering sharing this song on My Pakistani Ancestry for some time but never got round to it. Now, after reading a blog post by Bushra Hassan on The Citizen's Trust, it made me think about the war in Pakistan and the effects of that on ordinary lives. Go read her post "This is my war" and listen to the following song: